Wolff v. Belco Development Corp.

By appeal, this court now considers a 1967 fee oil and gas lease of 803.24 acres, of which 40 acres was pooled with an adjoining 40-acre federal lease to establish a drilling unit. The well was drilled on the federal lease component in 1971, and since 1972 has been a producing well. No demonstrated explanation or production effort under the lease was ever made oh any of the leased premises during the 20-year period, now 10 years past the stated expiration date.

The original lessor was appellant’s father, and appellant is the present owner of a two-thirds mineral interest. The lease included…